


My Unsound Intuition

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Series: Femslash Feb 2018 [9]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2018, Getting Together, Post-Canon, Short & Sweet, lil bit of introspection, nico tho is v competent, officially tht is, theyre on the run and tensions are high
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:44:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Nico always seems to have tricks up her sleeve.Femslash Feb Day 9: "Camping"





	My Unsound Intuition

**Author's Note:**

> and again, my first time writing these two!
> 
> title from violet by bad suns !!

Though they'd never actually discussed it, it was a pretty unanimous thought through their little group that Molly would be the one to take the best to the outdoorsy side of being on the run.

And while that was almost alarmingly true, she wasn't the _best_ of all of them at it, which might have been more shocking.

Considering the way their lives had been going lately, nothing much was a shocker anymore. Killer cults, aliens, dinosaurs - they'd really seen just about everything, and surprised enough by it all that they learned to expect everything. But if it had been the old them, well, this turn of events would most definitely be the biggest shock of their week, at least.

It wasn't a fact known until the moon crept over them on their third night amongst the trees and the brush and the humming cicadas.

"Well since you're so scientifically in tune, you start the fire!" Gert finally snapped, her glasses askew on her face and her cheeks red with temper or heat or both.

Chase's lips pursed and his jaw tightened as he, once again, rearranged the twigs in front of them. "I'm working on it," he replied, not bothering to look up at her.

A few feet away, Nico sat just a smidgen too close to Karolina. Their heads were bowed together conspiritorially as they observed Chase and Gert, unimpressed.

"I can't watch this anymore," Nico finally huffed a minute later, pushing herself up off of the log they'd appropriated for themselves and stalking toward the bickering couple.

"Move," she told the both of them as she dropped to her knees in front of the tumbling pile of sticks. She puffed her cheeks out, shaking her head slightly as she set them up in a pattern that wouldn't lead to them collapsing in on themselves - as were Chase's usual fire-starting tactics.

Adding a small pile of kindling in the center - because for two scientists' kids, they apparently hadn't begun to even consider kindling - and leaving a hole in the little hutch type shape she'd built, Nico held out a hand for their sole lighter.

Gert dropped it in her hand, her lips slightly pursed as she watched Nico lean forward and gently blow on the now smoking kindling. Fostering the flame until it licked at the timber, Nico finally leaned back a couple tense minutes later.

"Instead of trying to resolve your sexual tension through bickering, try making out against a tree so we don't have to wait half an hour for a something that should only take five minutes," Nico quipped to their slack faces as she stood to brush the leaves from her jeans. When she realized she wasn't going to get a response, she nodded once and set back off for Karolina's company.

Karolina had her chin in her hand and her elbow on her knees. Her smile curled up at the corners, so close to a smirk that it shot pleasant surprise up Nico's spine. 

"Where'd you learn that?" she asked, nodding toward the firmly raging fire.

Nico plopped back down next to her, letting only their pinkies overlap. "Good fires are required for a few rituals," she shrugged. "And it seemed like a good skill to have anyway."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Karolina running her tongue against the inside of her lip, lost in thought.

Nico tried not to stare - not that she fully succeeded, she was only human, after all - too afraid to get caught. Sure, they'd been lifelong friends, and sure, they'd made out a couple or a few times, and sure, when Nico thought about her, her palms got clammy and her heart started hammering, but that didn't mean she wanted to be caught staring.

Because it meant that this was something...more.

They hadn't talked about it. Not really. Not in the way that Nico wanted to - the way she'd been too scared to approach because it meant asking so much of herself on top of everything else.

She knew that this wasn't malicious, wasn't some passing fad, that she wouldn't get dropped at a second's notice when the tides changed. She knew Karolina didn't mean her harm, didn't want more than what she was willing to give.

But she still felt a coiling question mark in her gut every time they locked eyes. Still craved some kind of definition every time their lips were a breath's width apart.

Nico, by nature, was an answer seeker, but this one was one she knew she couldn't find on her own, no matter how hard she tried.

Karolina turned to her, that pull still to her lightly chapped lips. "What are you thinking about?" she asked in a low voice. 

Nico flushed from her throat up, rolling her lips around nervously. "Nothing."

"You've got that little crease in your forehead that you get when you're worrying, though," Karolina replied.

And in that moment it felt so good to be _known_ that Nico allowed herself to truthfully reply, "I'm not worried - I'm wondering."

"About?"

Nico cast her gaze around. Chase was using twigs like Lincoln Logs and building a surprisingly sound structure with Molly's aid. Alex and Gert had found solace in each other's moody company, both sitting with their back to the same tree, arms crossed over their chests in the same manner, not speaking a word.

"You and me," Nico replied with all the confidence in her body that she could muster, scooting her hand until two of each of their fingers were overlapped.

"Okay." Karolina's eyes settled onto Nico's, firm and unwavering, but still kind - they asked the question so she didn't have to.

"It's stupid. We're on the run from our parents, from the police, from _everyone_ and I just want to know if the girl I've been kissing wants to be my girlfriend as bad as I want to be hers," Nico spilled in one long breath. It wasn't everything, but she'd always had more questions than she knew what to do with, anyway.

"That's what's got you so worried?" Karolina asked incredulously.

"I'm not _worried_ ," Nico interjected.

"Nico - of course I do," Karolina continued over her indignation, her voice growing soft with the confession. She huffed a laugh, her chin dimpling and her cheeks glowing with a fierce blush. 

"Yeah?" There were still so many things she wanted to know-

"Yeah."

But they could wait, for now. 

Sometimes the best things in life came out of nowhere, sometimes they kissed you in the middle of a dance with no preamble, sometimes they didn't have answers or they didn't even know the questions or they were unknowable for a while.

And when Karolina smiled like that, Nico didn't feel like she needed an answer to that. There was no question mark about that smile - it was a question and answer all on its own, wrapped neatly and presented to Nico's heart.

She moved her hand to cover her _girlfriend's_ completely, letting a simple blush dust her cheeks thereafter.

"So," Karolina drawled, ponytail flicking as she sharply turned to meet Nico's eyes. "Trees, huh?"

Nico's eyes widened and her mouth dried out, she lifted her tongue to find the right words, but all that managed to come out was, "You heard that?"

Karolina grinned and nodded. "Mhmm," she hummed, turning to face forward, watching Molly and Chase to hide her amusement at Nico's stumbling lips.

Nico followed her eyes, trying to give herself something else to focus on so as not to short circut her brain any father. Her lips parted fitfully, sticking to one another in some last resort before she made a fool of herself. "That's poisonous," she stated.

Karolina started. "What?"

"Poisonous," Nico replied, before her own words sunk in and she herself violently started. 

"That's poisonous!" she exclaimed across their small camp, flinging herself up to her feet and hurrying over to Chase and Molly - who were none the wiser to her tight hysterics as they decorated their little twig cabin with a plant that was, presumably, posionous.

The minutes after that were rushed, full of the two in question being quarantined until they'd washed themselves up with water from a nearby brook and lasted a few minutes without exhibiting any outward reactions.

As Nico stood in front of the two, hands going as she stressed a conscious respect and healthy fear of nature's offerings, the group's view of her shifted, like when the eye doctor flips a prescription in front of your eyes and you can see just a bit clearer.

Nico came into focus, someone who knew the rules of their new landscape from her studies and practices. She was to be listened to, any warnings heeded and all advice to be drank in like you were dying of thirst.

That night, they all seperately realized at their own paces that they'd missed a lot of one another's framework through the off years. There were still things unknown and things locked away - Nico's newfound knowledge the perfect example.

As they each settled in around their proud fire, Karolina beside Nico, Alex by Chase, Molly with Gert, they each promised themselves to do better to learn what they could of one another. None of then realizing the person next to them was doing the same, whether it be out of romantic, platonic, or familial love.

**Author's Note:**

> i like to think tht in her wiccan studies nico picked up a good grasp of things tht'll help them on their little getaway (i.e. building fires and plant identification) so this is my little ode to tht
> 
> i'm on tumblr @desertrosetico !


End file.
